Catapult Creative

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]It’s hard to believe that only 10 months ago we were sitting in one of the four rooms that made up our office on Linden Avenue late one evening and began concepting ideas for how we could share our love and appreciation for the city we call home. Namely, to create the landscape and platform to help showcase and motivate others to truly embrace exploring and discovering all the wonderful things Dayton has to offer – to date your city.

The positive response to these initial concepts has been very humbling, especially how much we’ve managed to accomplish in such a short amount of time, with so much yet to come. These efforts have paid off, and now we are charged with developing an identity for one the most exciting expansions to hit downtown in recent years.

Left to right: Josh, Baton founder Jordan Hockett, Matthew

But first, let’s take a look at what got us here.

With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram it’s never been easier to showcase what moves and inspires you, and then share it with the world. We saw this happening everyday with three Dayton-centric social media accounts who used gorgeous photos to prove that Dayton is a great American city. We contacted and met with the creators of these accounts – Dayton Baton, Daytongram and Dayton’s Best – and shared our vision with them. That Vision: Work cooperatively and our goals will be that much easier to achieve. They got it immediately. So we united them under a thematically similar brand and began concepting the various ways they could work together.

The next step was joining forces with Dayton Most Metro to provide an additional platform and unifying entity to tie these social media accounts together. Matthew and I were brought on as co-publishers and got to work on planning the redesign for the next iteration of the site to actualize our vision. The first step was building a portal that both explained who the social media accounts were, their mission, and gave them the online tools to achieve that mission. The Mission: To inject our community with positivity and self-worth, and show everyone every day a new perspective on what makes our city great.

Meeting at 5th Street

We continued to put these social media accounts in touch with other community members who shared the same ideals, which led to a meeting with Olivia Barrow, of the Dayton Business Journal. What was supposed to be a quick meetup over a drink at 5th Street Brew Pub with Jordan Hockett, Tom Gilliam, Matthew, Oliva and myself became a two hour discussion that led to the idea of developing a well-branded self esteem campaign for the city. Tentatively called “I Love Dayton,” Olivia presented the idea at the UpDayton Summit. Amazingly our collaborative idea was chosen.

Provided by Dayton Inspires

Soon a committee was formed to develop the concept and Catapult became an obvious choice to participate in both the vision for the campaign and to create the brand itself. In the end our idea for Dayton Inspires was chosen among a number of different great brand names. We then designed the logo, and worked closely with Olivia and the committee to concept and design everything from stickers, posters, temporary tattoos and even a photobooth backdrop that have been unrolled over the past two months.

During all of this we also participated in the Activated Spaces program to move our offices downtown into the Talbott Tower. Downtown is where the action is, which is where we wanted to be, and just being here has led to a tremendous amount of growth and opportunity. Our street level office lets Dayton see our creativity on a daily basis, and demonstrate that a young creative agency can succeed here.

With Batman donning the cowl in our window, he has become a mantle of inspiration for us to focus on something greater than ourselves. To absorb ourselves in our city, to give back and help change the perception of fear, apathy and doubt into a calm, renewed sense of community. Everyday we are in the thick of it and are reminded of why we chose to be here.

All of these efforts have culminated in an exciting announcement and opportunity for Catapult Creative. We have been selected to concept and create both the name and logo for the Dayton Bike Share Program. We believe this project ties in perfectly with our vision of a Dayton that’s both growing and redefining what it means to live here. It is also perhaps a key reason we were selected among some true goliaths in the industry. We are excited to bring a youthful energetic passion, outside the box solutions, and outstanding design and branding to this elemental project for downtown.

We are Dayton. Dayton is us. This must be great.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”50501″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]

When it launches in spring 2015, Dayton will be one of 25+ cities across the U.S. with bike share systems.

There will be 22 bike stations within a two mile radius of downtown, with each station containing six to ten bikes – totaling more than 200 bikes.

Customers, who range from one-day users to annual subscribers, unlock the bikes and may ride to any other station or back to the original location at the end of their trip.

Made up of 9 local organizations, The Bike Share Planning Team is a fantastic example of the collaborative mindset that is so crucial to Dayton’s continued development.

There’s been a refreshing new appreciation for the value of knowing your community, and the Bike Share Planning Team has made that a primary focus for this branding effort.

We begin our journey with the Dayton Bike Share Program this week with an excitement fueled by fresh ideas and a sense of ownership that this must be great not only for the program and for our business, but for the citizens of this city we love.

I look forward to taking the first ride around this spring, and seeing a much more connected downtown.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Olivia Barrow came to Dayton two years ago to work for the Dayton Business Journal. And she quickly saw through the inferiority complex that our town seems to have and is excited about helping others see that, too. Olivia says, “I saw a lot of untapped potential in the Dayton region. Dayton’s outdoor adventure possibilities, especially the rivers, really capture my imagination and inspire me to be active. The opportunities for young people to become influential in the community and in business also inspires my desire to make a difference.”

As a way to give back to her town, Olivia became involved with UpDayton, a non profit group focused on the attraction and retention of young talent in Dayton. When their annual UpDayton Summit came around last April, she knew it was her time to ignite others with the passion she felt for the region. At the Summit, attended by hundreds of area young professional, the challenge posed was: How can we IGNITE change to make Dayton an even better place to live, work and play? How can we improve the quality of life for young professionals?

The group agreed to create three new projects to tackle these questions. Olivia stepped forward as a Project Leader and shared her idea – pictured to the right.

Attendees of the summit heard many pitches, and voted to narrow down the ideas. The three projects ideas selected for for 2014: 1) Disc Golf Course Along the River 2) Welcome Day for WPAFB in Downtown Dayton and 3) “I Love Dayton” Campaign.

After the summit, Matthew Sliver, one of the co-founders of Catapult Creative, says, “I saw an update about which projects had been chosen, and who pitched them. “I Love Dayton: was one of the chosen projects, which Olivia had pitched. I sent her a text with a screen grab asking her if she needed help naming the project, her response, ” I’ve already conscripted you to come up with it :).”

Sliver shares, “As long as I have lived here people have talked about the Dayton mindset of “mine. My idea, my client, my plan.” The trend that I know a lot of the people involved in this project have seen is that we end up with numerous ideas that are all similar, but no one wants to work together. They want IT to be their idea. An idea is always better when it’s numerous pieces of different ideas from all over, pushed into one great idea.” So his goal was to help steer the project into something that could be communal.

Matthew and his creative team got to work. At the May Project Launch “I Love Dayton” morphed into Dayton Pride.

In June the Dayton Pride group met at Warped Wing Brewing Company to start to plot out a campaign to create a media buzz for the region. What they ended up sharing was their vision for Dayton Inspires.

According to the recently launched website:We have created a new positive interactive brand for Dayton that is reflected in our Web and social media presence. We’re giving everyone access to our designs so they can take our campaign and run with it. We will succeed by inspiring Daytonians to use our branding to promote themselves and their pride in the city in any form they choose.

With your help, we will cover the city with our logo by distributing it through posters, stickers, murals and other physical images at businesses and community gathering spaces in downtown Dayton and in the suburbs. When we finish, it will be almost impossible to go to downtown Dayton without encountering our logo, and the positive vibes it inspires.”

According to Updayton Executive Director Laura Estandia, a young professional who came to Dayton to attend UD and has stayed, explains, “I like this campaign because it encourages the user to be interactive. It’s open source creative. No trademarks, just free space. I am excited to see how people interact with it. It could be messy at times, but overall this is going to be a very colorful, diverse celebration.”

Barrow is excited to see how the community will embrace Dayton Inspires. She shared, “I hope it will inspire the region to take pride in itself and truly see Dayton for the wonderful place to live that it is. And while many people who live here recognize that it’s a great place to live, they still talk down about it as if it’s something to apologize for. When people take pride in where they live, they’re more invested in the community and willing to spend money locally, and they look for ways to take advantage of the city’s amenities instead of always going out of town. If the 850,000 people who live in the region began to celebrate all of the great businesses and parks and unique shops and restaurants that make Dayton awesome, downtown and the region would be bustling with activity all the time. ”

Sliver hopes “to see a chain reaction. It will start with several businesses and people, then as others see what Dayton has inspired them to do, they will inturn show what inspires them. Ultimately, I just want people to start seeing the amazing things that Dayton has to offer, instead of focusing on the bad.” As for measuring success, he shares, ” This is a social based campaign, so the more posts I see, or the more that #Daytoninspires is used, that will measure the short-term. I will know we are successful when we are approached by another group of like-minded individuals wanting to take the voice of Dayton Inspires over and grow it even further.”

And now Dayton- it’s your turn to participate. What inspires you?

The Dayton Inspires crew will be on hand tonight at Urban Nights with their photo booth at the UpDayton Splatter Zone, located at 125 N Wilkinson St in the parking lot near the Westminster Presbyterian Church .

Share what you love about Dayton! Bring a T-shirt (or other clothing item) and get “tagged” with the Dayton Inspires logo at the spray painting station.

Three new downtown businesses are preparing to host grand openings in conjunction with the May 9 Urban Nights event in downtown Dayton.

Catapult Creative, 131 N. Ludlow St. (Talbott Tower): Catapult Creative provides marketing, advertising, branding, design, web development, video and online services. They have helped grow small- to medium-sized businesses and organizations through branding, expressive design and communication expertise. Though Catapult is a recent venture for the four founding partners, combined they have over 20 years of experience in branding, advertising and marketing.

Confetti, 42 W. Fifth St. (Ludlow Place): Confetti is a modern stationery and card boutique. The shop will offer contemporary and vintage-style cards, stationery, upscale party supplies and decor, and small gifts. In addition to the retail component, Confetti will offer workshops for party-related topics, such as card marking, do-it-yourself décor, holiday wrapping, calligraphy and more. Customers also may host small parties and events in the space.

Studio Meco, 46 W. Fifth St. (Ludlow Place): Studio Meco will feature art by Melody Cole Gates and a small, select group of local artists. The gallery will feature mostly African American figuratives, portraits, landscapes, florals, abstracts and typography in various media such as paintings, drawings, sculpture, jewelry and pottery. Studio Meco also plans to produce professional fine art prints, greeting cards, calendars, journals, coffee mugs, screen print T-shirts and tote bags for special occasions.

The new shops are part of the sixth phase of the Pop-Up Project, part of an initiative to fill downtown storefronts called Activated Spaces. This program builds success of the first five phases of the Pop-Up Project, launched in November 2011, to provide potential business owners the opportunity for shorter leases at below-market rates as a way for them to jump-start their businesses and contribute to the vibrancy of downtown Dayton. Since it was started, the project has launched 14 shops (11 of which are still open), filled 13,113 square feet of previously vacant space and created 30 jobs. Unique to this round of Pop-Up Shops is Catapult Creative, which is the first Pop-Up Office Space project. “The Pop-Up Shop program was so successful for the retail shops that we quickly ran out of move-in-ready, street-level spaces,” explained Pop-Up project leader, Elise Huelskamp. “Now we are including vacant, move-in-ready office space in downtown Dayton. We’re confident Activated Spaces can showcase the available amenities and potential for business owners to ‘do their thing downtown’ alongside hundreds of other businesses.”

The Pop-Up Project is driven by volunteers from the young professional organizations Generation Dayton and UpDayton with support from the Downtown Dayton Partnership, the City of Dayton, the City of Dayton Neighborhood Mini-Grant program and community volunteers. Activated Spaces is part of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan, a strategic blueprint for the future of downtown.